The woman who was wearing a Santa hat and towing a large red suitcase began screaming in the middle of the South terminal at Gatwick airport, her festive goodwill exhausted.

She was dragged away by police during one of the many occasions when they were forced to intervene as frustrated travellers vented their anger on airport and airline staff, after being stranded at the airport when dozens of flights were cancelled because of the snow.

Passengers told how they were left waiting on planes on the runway for more than five hours before being escorted back to the airport and told their flights were cancelled. Long queues stretched back from the hotel reservations counter, as families hoping to get away for some Christmas break sunshine tried to book somewhere to stay for the night.

"Even the hotels are full, and lots of the trains are cancelled anyway; this is a real nightmare," said Carrie Walls, who had planned to fly to Lanzarote with her three children and husband Joe.

A man in a fluorescent jacket at the Monarch Holidays counter held a loudspeaker to his mouth as crowds jostled for attention. Sweat pouring from his brow, he pulled no punches: "Once again, all passengers on the cancelled Monarch flights, please will you listen to me. There are no seats on Monarch flights between now and Christmas Day. We strongly suggest you call reservations in the morning, and see if you can reserve other flights."

Passengers waved their tickets angrily and jeered before being told: "This desk will be closed in five minutes; once again, this desk will be closing in five minutes."

Tracy Boland, her three children, and partner Andy Bennett, from Basildon in Essex, were due to fly to Lanzarote with EasyJet for a Christmas break after saving up for months.

Instead they were being taken by coach to Birmingham where, they said, they had been promised flights. "It's been absolutely chaos and no one really knows what's going on. We were given £7 meal tickets and then told that we had to get on the coach in 10 minutes – now we don't really know where the coach is," Bolland said.

Natalie McNicholl was due to fly to Tenerife with Easyjet at 1.45pm. "We were in the plane on the runway from 1.45 till after five. Eventually they told us to get out of the plane and we were brought back to the airport. I was due to meet my mum and dad in Tenerife for Christmas. Now I don't know what I'm going to do. They told us to book a new flight on the internet, but they are all booked. It's quite unbelievable what a bit of snow can do to Britain – the place has come to its knees."

The shutters of the airport information bureau in South terminal shut well before many would have wanted.

A sarcastic note was temporarily tacked to the front of the kiosk before being torn down by a member of airport staff: For Your Information: We've Gone Home.

Andrew McConell, an EasyJet spokesman, said that he could understand customers' frustrations, as the airline prepared for another day of major disruption today.

The company, the main carrier from Gatwick with 39 planes, was last night preparing a statement expected to warn of more cancellations.

McConell said: "This is going to have a major knock-on effect on Tuesday's services. We have endeavoured to communicate as effectively as possible using a variety of means including the social networking site Twitter.

"We would advise customers to check the company's website before travelling."

For many, such as plumber Paul Britcher, 51, and his four children, McConell's words were of little consolation. "We were hoping for a holiday in the sun," Britcher said.

"Now we've probably got one in the slush. Merry Christmas."